Posted by Block-C Staff

Here is the next in a Round-table series of questions about Clemson football’s previous season (if you missed the previous posts, here is Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, and Part V).  We hope you enjoy:

OK, now that we have knocked out everything about last season and answered a couple of questions about next season, what is your Super-Duper Early Prediction for 2011?

2011 Clemson Football Schedule

09/03/11 – vs. Troy
09/10/11 – vs. Wofford
09/17/11 – vs. Auburn
09/24/11 – vs. Florida State
10/01/11 – at Virginia Tech
10/08/11 – vs. Boston College
10/15/11 – at Maryland
10/22/11 – vs. North Carolina
10/29/11 – at Georgia Tech
11/05/11 – Open
11/12/11 – vs. Wake Forest
11/19/11 – at NC State
11/26/11 – at South Carolina

Willy Mac: Lets be realistic about 2011. The Tigers need to get back on track next year as Dabo continues to build his own regime and shake off the Tommy Bowden shadow. 7-5 is completely doable and for all purposes should be expected next year. Nothing more and nothing less should be considered. Some games I’ve considered for definite losses next year are FSU, VT, probably GT as they’re hungry, and Sakerlina. In true Clemson fashion, we’ll probably get to the bowl game but flop with the practice/holiday lay over. Oh well, at least we’ve got six or seven months to fool ourselves into thinking that Clemson is better than they really are.

Sambo: W, W, W, L, L, W, W, W, L, W, W*, L and what does that spell?  8-4!  I put an * beside the NC State game because I would bet on Clemson winning if Russell Wilson is playing along side Kyle Parker in the Colorado Rockie farm system somewhere, but if Wilson is back, then mark me down for a 7-5 season.  Otherwise, I’m going to say Clemson beats an Auburn team that loses virtually every single player from their National Championship team (and their favorite toilet paper filled trees, too soon?), but then drops two straight to start the season 0-2 in ACC play, which sounds depressing when you think about it.  Otherwise, losses to GT and the Cocks wraps up a typical Clemson season, aka 8-4 overall and 5-3 in conference.  Sigh.

Chili: I think having the Auburn game directly follow two cupcakes could be a problem. I’m not sure the offense will be ready by then, but hell we looked better against the champs last year than we did against anyone else, so who knows how we’ll react. I’ll chalk Auburn up as a loss right now. I see the FSU game as an L, and possibly the UNC game though who knows what will happen with them and NCAA sanctions between now and then. Away games, I see us dropping VT and Sakerlina. #TRUTHBOMBS

Posted by Block-C Staff

Here is the next in a Round-table series of questions about Clemson football’s previous season (if you missed the previous posts, here is Part I, Part II, Part III, and Part IV).  We hope you enjoy:

What worries you the most about next season’s team?

Chili: I am worried both about the maturation of Tajh Boyd and our defensive line play, however for the purposes of this response I will focus on our young quarterback. Tajh was criminally underplayed this season. There were numerous times where Kyle Parker was stinking it up on the field only to be kept in while Boyd watched from the sidelines. He finally did get a significant shot in the Tigers’ postseason. What began as a slightly shaky outing developed into a fairly impressive ending for Tajh during Clemson’s Meineke Car Care Bowl loss to USF. I’m really interested to see how he integrates into a system seemingly much better suited to his skills. If we’re going to have this great stable of receivers excel we have to have a quarterback that can get it to them. If we’re going to have this viable running threat than, concordant with that, we have to have a viable passing threat. Tajh is the key next year.

Willy Mac: I harbor Chili’s worries of a botched Tajh job (If you don’t know what it is, you can’t afford one, big guy). To pile on to those worries I’m worried about reloading talent on defense and not being able to develop these new wide receivers. Well, the defense thing has worried me in the past but I do have supreme confidence in Steele as a coach to make things happen in the off season. I don’t have confidence in Jeff Scott as a coach to develop the top-tier talent he and Dabo worked so hard to bring to Clemson. Our receivers that were decently touted guys coming in have been matured into fucking garbage trub assholes who can’t catch or block. Sorry to say that, but it’s pretty true. If they’re having trouble doing both of those things… in the bowl game… something is not happening off the field and in practice to get these guys to the level where they need to be. Let’s just hope that Brad Scott can help mentor his son and his receiving corps now that he isn’t in a coaching position. This is one of the smaller reasons I believe Brad was moved to a non-coaching position in the first place.

Sambo: While Tajh Boyd’s maturation is a large concern, I’m much more worried about what happens if he doesn’t live up to the hype or if he gets injured.  Why? Because can you name his backup?  That’s right, you can’t.  The current backup QB is going to be one of two true freshmen, Tony McNeal or Cole Stoudt, both of whom just enrolled into Clemson a month ago.  Neither of them has even taken a snap in practice and one of them is going to be Tajh’s backup which is quite terrifying.  So, I’m most worried about depth at quarterback, but I’m also worried about pass coverage.  Clemson loses both starting cornerbacks (Marcus Gilchrist and Byron Maxwell) from last season’s squad and it will be interesting to see if their backups can fill those spots efficiently.  Lastly, I’m worried Clemson is going to lose to the Gamecocks again, which will result in three straight years of hearing their crowing about how the SEC is so much better than the ACC, when we all know that has absolutely nothing to do with the result of our rivalry game.

Posted by Block-C Staff

Here is the next in a Round-table series of questions about Clemson football’s previous season (if you missed the previous posts, here is Part I, Part II, and Part III).  We hope you enjoy:

What are you looking forward to the most for next season?

Sambo:  The most?  Well, I’m looking forward to seeing if Tajh Boyd can live up to his recruiting hype (5-star rating from Scout.com and 4-star rating from Rivals.com) and to see if he can lead Clemson’s offense well enough that it translates into more wins (and free tacos).  I’m looking forward to seeing DeAndre Hopkins play again and to see if he transforms into an All-Conference receiver in his sophomore season.  I’m looking forward to no longer seeing Jamie “Fumbles McGee” Harper carry (and by carry, I mean that he would see a hole, than dance around before being tackled for a two-yard loss) the ball, and instead seeing Andre Ellington’s healthy toe get the majority of the load like he should have last season.  I’m looking forward to seeing Dabo’s enthusiastic cheerleading antics on the sideline (which you have to admit is a huge upgrade from Tommy Bowden’s expressionless or lost-looking behavior when he was on the field).  I’m looking forward to seeing an ACC that loses every single one of their upperclassmen quarterbacks (seriously, all of them unless Russell Wilson comes back, but that is 50/50 right now) and leaving the conference fairly wide open.  And I’m looking most forward to seeing Sakerlina receiving a Top 15 pre-season ranking, only to have Spurrier jerk Stephen Garcia around all season, put in the overrated Conner Shaw (his 2nd biggest offer was from Georgia Tech and that was only b/c his brother played there) and then ultimately fail to live up to their pre-season hype.  Also, I’m looking forward to showing you this fan-favorite picture of Rendrick Taylor depicted as The Hulk:

“That dude had muscles that I didn’t even know existed.”

Chili: Any notion of what I’m looking forward to next year must be tempered by the fact that I am not especially looking forward to next year at all really. We’re looking at a slight improvement that will end up being another 8-5, 7-6 season. But I’m sure as the days turn into weeks and there’s no football in sight, I’ll start anticipating Clemson football season like a dog craving Beggin’ Strips and just not knowing that no; it’ll never be bacon. And there are things I am looking forward to.  Anyway, I am most looking forward to seeing what appears to be a pretty outstanding set of offensive weapons get integrated into a new system under Chad Morris. The offensive line, which was a strength much of this year, looks to be fairly good again next year, although perhaps lacking at depth.  Charone Peak, Martavis Bryant, Sammy Watkins are all going to have shots at early playing time at receiver (if Peak & Watkins sign, that is) alongside Nuke Hopkins, while Tajh Boyd gets into a system that fits his strengths a little better than the last. Andre Ellington should be great again next year if he, as expected, has fully recovered from last year’s injury. How’s it all going to fit together? As a Clemson fan I’ve previously fallen into the pitfall of looking at our great stable of talent and thinking that it should produce results just as great, only to have the team subsequently dash my hopes.

Willy Mac: Willy Mac is too busy for this article. He assures us that he is not, we repeat IS NOT busy jacking off homeless dudes down by the Reedy River. Seriously, he’s not.

EDIT: I love it when you’re out of town and catch shit for it. Great things here. Will get to this later tonight when I get back in town. until then, keep hitting refresh because I know all of you are just wet with anticipation to hear the last of three professional opinions. SRS BSNS. – WM

EDIT 2: Much like last year, I’m looking forward to some extreme tailgaiting. I’m going all out this year because odds are I’m not going to be spending much time in the games for the first part of the season. It’s still going to be a rough go of things because I’m certain that even given the time our receivers will still have trouble holding blocks, catching footballs, etc. I do expect our running game to definitely prosper now that Ellington will be healthy and get more carries now that Harper is gone. Hopefully some of those big kids we recruited for the back field will step up, too. Like Chili, I’m looking to see only minor improvement, but… still improvement at the end of the day. Still serious business though.

Posted by Block-C Staff

Here is the next in a Round-table series of questions about Clemson football’s previous season (if you missed the previous posts, here is Part I and Part II).  We hope you enjoy:

In your opinion, what were this seasons team’s Strengths?  Weaknesses?

Willy Mac:

• Strengths – For the obvious answer, I’ll go with the defense. For the no-so-obvious, I’ll go with the offensive line. I mean they weren’t by any means world beaters, but they did a damn good job against a defensive line that won the national championship. They also finally came together as a unit for the most part. Like a good official, the best are usually never noticed. That’s when you know they’re doing a good job. Again, Our best statistical category remains kickoff returns. Kudos to what ever coach is in charge of that.
• Weaknesses – We all know the easily targeted weaknesses on the team as did the rest of the conference/nation/world/etc. What I’d like to point out are three key positions that absolutely killed us. First and foremost, kicking. I won’t go into beating this dead horse. Dabo (and Tommy) always talked about how we were just as few points away. Well, converting points on fields goals MIGHT HAVE MADE A FUCKING DIFFERENCE. This is what happens when you try to recruit Christ Church kids. Secondly, the overall play of the wide receivers. Nuke Hopkins is somewhat not a fault here, but he still didn’t do a lot either. He made some great catches but he was pretty clueless when it came to blocking. Hell, the same can be said for the entire WR unit. Blocking outside the tackles is just as important as the blocking that goes on inside the tackles. Oh yeah, and the tackles blocking too… that’s important… as, well… Anyways, lastly is PUNTING. W-T-FUCK, MATE. We were next to last in the ACC. It’s bad enough that our offense couldn’t keep our defense off of the field but then you add in the fact that our punter couldn’t get us decent field position. I know you can point to the coverage and what not but ultimately the punter is responsible for his on-field team. He’s the play maker in that situation.

Sambo:

• Strengths – Considering this team went 6-7, I want to say that they didn’t have any strengths, but since you asked, I will say defense and cheerleading.  The defense is an obvious choice.  They finished the season as a Top 20 unit (hehe) in Total Defense and Top 15 in Scoring Defense.  And I say Cheerleading, because that seems to be Dabo’s only strength, his insane sideline enthusiasm aka cheerleading.  If clapping and butt-slapping were reflected in the score, Clemson might have gone undefeated.
• Weaknesses – You could point to the wide receivers, or the linebackers, or the offense as a whole, or even the punting(?), but my answer is individual team leadership.  As soon as Kyle Parker was speared in the back during the Auburn game, he seemed to give up on the season, and therefore gave up any leadership role he may have played on this team.  And without him leading the offense, it seemed as if no one else stepped up to fill that void.  It probably didn’t help that all of the offensive play-makers were extremely young and inexperienced, and the previous season’s team leader is playing in the pros (CJ), so as soon as KP checked out, the offense was doomed without a leader and therefore, Clemson finished 6-7.

Chili:

• Strengths – Surprise! I’m going with defense. This year’s defensive squad was outstanding, and if the offense had been even remotely competent, the defense would probably have had the support it needed to be considered among Clemson’s best ever. I will also submit that the offensive line played better than it has in recent years, though that’s a bar not set too high.
• Weaknesses – Coaching and, as Sambo said, leadership in general. We will probably never know for sure whether or not Dabo was screwing around with Napier’s playcalling, but it seemed pretty likely and would’ve made sense given some of the bonehead decisions on offense. Kyle Parker was a huge liability where we thought he would be one of our greatest assets. Was it the spearing at Auburn? Did he have rib fractures during the season? Again, only speculation and rumor mongering. Either way, Tajh Boyd should have been given much more time with the team. As we saw with Tommy Bowden, unfettered loyalty to your starting quarterback will, as we say, “fuck your shit up.” The leadership vacuum had a lot, I think, to do with the coaching issues. Also, for the 20th or so year in a row, the Woo-Hoo was a massive weakness of our fanbase. Stop sounding like sassy hillbilly trannies, assholes.

Posted by Block-C Staff

Last week, Block-C began a Round-table series of questions about Clemson football’s previous season, here is the next of a series of posts  (if you missed Part I, click here).  We hope you enjoy:

Where did it all go so horribly horribly wrong?

Chili: I think there are two main points in the season where things started to fall apart. First there was the three game losing streak the team suffered through, with losses to Auburn, Miami, and North Carolina. The offense scored 24, 21, and 15 points respectively. Our team seemed lost offensively and we then learned that nothing Dabo or Napier would do to try and fix the offense would end up working. The second big blow to the team’s psyche was during a 16-10 loss at Boston College when tailback Andre Ellington suffered an injury that would essentially end his season. With this key piece of the offense out, our team seemed resigned to their fate.

Willy Mac: I’d like to point specifically to the few hours immediately following the Auburn game. Kyle Parker did some thinking either in his hotel room or on the plane ride home to Greenville. He came to the a conclusion (that would make itself blatantly apparent in the weeks to follow) that he didn’t really have an interest in playing quarterback on a collegiate level anymore. He figured that he had made a mistake in coming back and probably would be spending his time in a more productive fashion if he were finding a house out in Colorado instead of sitting in a locker room with 85 nasty smelling dudes. If he didn’t start looking out for his best interests, then he was going to wind up getting really hurt and it would definitely jeopardize his future in the MLB. I don’t blame Kyle Parker for giving up after taking that big hit. I blame Kyle Parker for coming back “just because” and making a halfway effort. Shit, we could have made 6-7 with Tajh and we would have been happy to stamp the “rebuilding year” moniker on it. More than likely there wouldn’t be anyone losing their job and everyone could feel satisfied with the fact that we would be better next year because our team had a year to get accustomed to one another with Boyd under center.

Sambo:  January 18th, 1990, also known as the day that Danny Ford “resigned” (he resigned?  Shenanigans, the administration wanted him out b/c of NCAA investigations or some bullshit excuse, and I wouldn’t be the one bit surprised if James Barker was behind it all, which was Step One in his evil plan to no longer make Clemson football relevant).  Yeah, so what if Danny was mostly in a drunken stupor during that part of his coaching career and might have already passed his prime, but he was winning and that is something that has been missing from the past 20 seasons of Clemson football (minus the ’91 ACC Championship which was won using with Danny’s players, so it doesn’t count).  It has been all downhill since then and if you ask me, coaching is the only thing holding Clemson back.  Danny Ford was 96-29-4 (56-16-1 ACC record, 6-2 in bowl games) when he coached at Clemson and since he left, just look at the string of incompetent coaches:

• Ken Hatfield – 32-12-1 (19-10-1), 1-1 in bowls
• Tommy West – 31-28 (21-19) including a 3-8 season in 1998, 1-3 in bowls
• Tommy Bowden – 72-45 (43-32), 3-5 in bowls
• Dabo Swinney – 19-15 (13-8), 1-2 in bowls

That’s a whole lot of mediocre (on top of a terrible 6-11 bowl record) and supports my answer – everything went horribly horribly wrong on January 18th, 1990.  But if we are talking about this season, then it was definitely the play where Kyle Parker got speared in the back during the Auburn game and quit playing to try and win games and seemed to care more about his baseball career.  Also, here is a music video from Ireland that has nothing to do with football, but I thought it was hilarious and worth sharing, plus the chick in this video is super hot (NSFW unless you don’t mind a little cursing):